1. Field of the Disclosure
This disclosure relates generally to oilfield downhole tools and more particularly to methods and devices for targeting multiple stages of a wellbore for stimulation and production.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the oil and gas industry continues to explore and produce from wells that are deeper and more economically driven, designing downhole tools that can operate in sequential zone completion and intervention becomes a challenge. Ball operated frac sleeves are used to stimulate formation zones, where the ball size is incremented from the smallest ball operating the lower-most frac sleeve, to the largest ball size operating the upper-most frac sleeve. The incremental size difference of the frac balls limits the overall number of stages a ball operated completion system can be used in. The largest frac ball must be smaller than the tubing inner diameter, whereas each subsequently smaller frac ball must be incrementally smaller than the previous ball seat to be able to pass through the next stage. In such instances, the flowbore cross-sectional area is significantly reduced.
In some aspects, the present disclosure is directed to methods and devices for performing stimulation operations without compromising the flowbore cross-sectional area.